Since yesterday’s light decided to play nicely, I headed out again this afternoon. It was partly cloudy and that usually works out one of three ways - big fluffy clouds for great sunsets, completely clouded over or completely clear. One in three odds, so why not. The next decision was which camera to bring - the Canon 1Ds Mark III or the Mamiya 645AFD II and Phase One P25 digital back. I know... the violins are playing. If the weather is sunny with good light, then the P25 will work great. If it’s cloudy and the light isn’t so great, then the 1Ds Mark III’s ISO will be needed. Analysis-paralysis... both cameras went.

DESTINATION UNKNOWN

I have been wanting to shoot an old abandoned brick factory about 30 minutes northeast of the house. I had seen the factory years ago during my college years. Things change so a quick check with Google maps and the factory was still there. Vroom! Thirty minutes go by and we are in Denton city limits. By now the sky has gone from partly to completely clouded over. Murphy’s Law and all, but the 1Ds Mark III is in the camera bag ready to go, so no worries.

We arrived at the brickyard and after some driving around facility and we found the main gate. The obligatory “Do Not Trespass” sign, blah, blah, blah... Seen those before. Razor wire? Hmmm... Didn’t see that in the satellite photos! And not quite so abandoned either. Evidently ACME brick is alive and well. I should have Google’d the location a bit more - I didn’t realize it was “ACME” brick. They advertise and even had Troy Aikman as spokesperson at one point. After about 15 minutes of looking for a less painful way in, no luck...  Onto Plan B. Plan B always works. Plan B consists of desperate, aimless driving with no clue... Light fades, desperation goes up. We’ve used this approach a 1000’s of times on vacations! The problem here is that during the past 4 years we have been to just about every destination within a 30 minute radius of the house.

PLAN B

The earlier Google searches revealed there used to be a train station, so that became Plan B. Based on one of pictures posted on the web, I know the station was there until at least 1986. As you probably already figured out - no train station. I did try to keep with the railroad track theme - it makes it look like I actually have a plan. Denton has many old buildings from the 1910-1930’s, so there is a nice gritty

texture which works well with digital backs. The three pictures in this blog entry were at an abandoned warehouse about a stone’s throw from City Hall. Lots of nice textures, but light stunk, hence the black and white post-processing. Nothing here really shows off what the Hasselblad 110mm F2 Planar can or can’t do.

A TINY RANT OR TWO

Two of the images are from the Hasselblad 110mm F2 on the 645AFD II. The other image was the Canon 1Ds Mark III and the Canon EF 50mm F1.4. The 645AFD II weighs ~1700 grams according to its specs; I think it weighs less if just counting the body. Regardless, certainly 2+ pounds with batteries. The P25 weighs at least 1 pound with its battery. The Hasselblad 110/2 lens weighs over 2 pounds. The whole set-up probably tips the scales at 7+ pounds. And from stem to stern the whole kit is ~14 inches long. It’s a large, unbalanced beast! With no vertical grip, holding all the weight with a small grip area is tiring.

Today the weight and size of medium format set-up was not a problem, but walking around with the combo for three or four hours during a vacation would be tiring. When the 645AFD/P25 went to the car and 1Ds3 came out, the 1Ds3 felt so light. Pundits will say “horse for courses”. True, but if you have a digital back (and spent all that money) - the natural reaction is to use as much as possible. The file quality for the P25 is great, but having a 1Ds Mark III on-hand makes the Mamiya 645AFD II & P25 set-up feel like 1980’s ergonomics. That’s it for today. The EXIF data should be there, so you can see which file was the Canon 50mm.